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United States Patent |
5,245,596
|
Gupta
,   et al.
|
September 14, 1993
|
Optical head having a grating with a doubly periodic structure
Abstract
An optical head is disclosed in which a beam from a diode laser is directed
onto an optical disc, and a beam reflected from the optical disc is passed
through an optical device which forms a plurality of discrete beams of
different orders. The beams from the optical device are focussed onto
photodetectors, and signals from the photodetectors are used for error
detection, tracking, and signal detection. The optical device comprises
two diffraction gratings which are supported on a substrate and are
separated from each other by a thin film. In order to obtain the
advantages of a doubly-periodic structure, the thickness of the thin film
between the two gratings is very accurately controlled to be on the order
of the wavelength of the incident beam of radiation.
Inventors:
|
Gupta; Mool C. (Webster, NY);
Peng; Song-Tsuen (Dix Hills, NY)
|
Assignee:
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Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester, NY)
|
Appl. No.:
|
721036 |
Filed:
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June 26, 1991 |
Current U.S. Class: |
369/44.14; 250/201.5; 359/569; 359/900; 369/112.12 |
Intern'l Class: |
G11B 007/00; G02B 005/18 |
Field of Search: |
369/112,109,110,111,103,44.11,44.14,44.12,44.37,44.23
360/114
250/201.5,237 R,237 G
359/560-569,359,576,900
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
3603668 | Sep., 1971 | Debitetto | 359/576.
|
4257673 | Mar., 1981 | Matthijsse | 359/569.
|
4672187 | Jun., 1987 | Fujita et al. | 250/201.
|
4894815 | Jan., 1990 | Yamanaka | 369/110.
|
5029154 | Jul., 1991 | Sumi et al. | 250/201.
|
5048925 | Sep., 1991 | Gerritsen et al. | 359/569.
|
5085496 | Feb., 1992 | Yoshida et al. | 359/569.
|
5093749 | Mar., 1992 | Maeda | 359/571.
|
5101389 | Mar., 1992 | Ohuchida et al. | 369/44.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
0178154 | Jul., 1989 | JP | 369/109.
|
0267747 | Nov., 1990 | JP | 369/109.
|
0037834 | Feb., 1991 | JP | 369/109.
|
Other References
"A High Density Dual Type Grating for Magneto-Optical Disk Head", Journal
of Applied Physics, vol. 28, Supplement 28-3 pp. 193-195, 1989.
"Rigorous Analysis of Guided Waves in Doubly Periodic Structures", Journal
Optical Society of Americas, A7, 1448 (1990).
|
Primary Examiner: Sniezek; Andrew L.
Assistant Examiner: Tran; Thang V.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Holloway; William W.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An optical head comprising:
a light source for producing a collimated beam of monochromatic radiation;
an optical device;
means for directing said beam to a recording medium and for directing a
beam from said recording medium to said optical device;
said optical device receiving said beam from said medium and diffracting
said beam, said optical device including first and second diffraction
gratings formed in surfaces separated by a distance equal to the
wavelength of said beam, said optical device providing a plurality of
discrete beams of different orders; and
detector means for receiving said discrete beams from said optical device
and for producing signals indicative of the positions of said beams.
2. The optical head, as defined in claim 1, wherein said directing means
includes a polarizing beam splitter and a quarter wave plate.
3. The optical head, as defined in claim 1, wherein said light source is a
diode laser.
4. The optical head, as defined in claim 1, wherein said first diffraction
grating is formed in a quartz substrate and said second diffraction
grating is formed in a glass film formed on said first diffraction
grating.
5. The optical head, as defined by claim 1, wherein said distance is
between about 0.1 .mu.m and about 10 .mu.m.
6. The optical head, as defined in claim 5, wherein said first diffraction
grating has a period of approximately 0.36 .mu.m.
7. The optical head, as defined in claim 6, wherein said second diffraction
grating has period of approximately 0.45 .mu.m.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an optical head, and more particularly, to
an optical head which includes an optical device for diffracting an
incident beam of radiation to form a plurality of discrete beams of
different orders.
STATE OF THE PRIOR ART
The diffraction of light by two gratings separated by a large distance
(relative to the wavelength) is known in the art, and such a device has
been used to achieve wavelength stability in an application such as an
optical pickup-head. For example, in a paper entitled "A High Density Dual
Type Grating for Magneto-Optical Disk Head," Journal of Applied Physics,
Vol. 28, Supplement 28-3, pp. 193-195 (1989), there is disclosed an
optical pickup head in which a reflected beam from an information
recording surface is directed to a first diffraction grating on one side
of a substrate. The beam passes through the substrate and is directed to a
photodetector by means of a second diffraction grating located on an
opposite side of the substrate.
One problem with the device shown in the above paper is that it is not
suitable for applications where it is desired to have the incident beam
normal to the device. Only a single output beam can be obtained at normal
incidence, and if the periods of the two gratings are equal, no diffracted
beam is produced at normal incidence. However, in order to compensate for
beam position shifts due to wavelength change in such a device, the
periods of the two gratings have to be equal. Thus, the device cannot be
used at normal incidence in applications where it is important to
compensate for beam position shifts due to wavelength change.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical head which
overcomes the problems in the prior art discussed above.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided
an optical head comprising: a light source for producing a beam of
radiation; means for directing the beam to a receiving medium and for
directing a beam from the receiving medium to an optical device; an
optical device for receiving the beam from the medium and for diffracting
the beam to form a plurality of discrete beams of different orders, the
optical device including first and second diffraction gratings separated
by a distance generally equal to the wavelength of the beam; and detector
means for receiving the discrete beams from the optical device and for
producing signals indicative of the positions of the beams.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a beam from a diode laser is
directed to a polarizing beam splitter through a collimating lens. The
beam from the beam splitter passes through a quarter-wave plate and is
focussed on an optical disc by means of a lens. A beam reflected from the
optical disc passes through the quarter-wave plate, the beam splitter, and
an optical device which produces a plurality of discrete beams of
different orders. These beams are focussed on a pair of photodetectors.
The optical device used in the disclosed optical head comprises a quartz
substrate which has a first diffraction grating formed on a surface of the
substrate. A glass film is formed on top of the first diffraction grating,
and a second diffraction grating of a period different from the period of
the first grating is formed in the glass film. The thickness of the glass
film between the two gratings is accurately controlled to be on the order
of the wavelength of the light which will be used with the device. The
thickness can be any value between 0.1 microns and 10 microns. The
structure formed is known as a doubly periodic structure (DPS).
A principal advantage of the disclosed optical head is that the optical
device used in the head is insensitive to changes in the wavelength of the
incident light. A further advantage is that higher order beams in the
optical device are excited by the interaction of the two grating through
the evanescent field. Finally, the doubly periodic structure of the
optical device enhances the light-coupling efficiency of the optical
device, and it can broaden the acceptance wavelength of light coupling by
a grating.
Other features and advantages will become apparent with reference to the
following description of the preferred embodiment when read in light of
the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a prior-art device which includes a single
grating;
FIG. 2 is a an elevational view of prior-art device in which two gratings
are separated by a relatively large distance;
FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the optical device used in the present
invention; and
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the optical head of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1, there is shown a prior-art device 10 in which a diffraction
grating 12 is formed on a substrate 14. A diffraction angle of an optical
beam 16 from a periodic structure, as shown in FIG. 1, can be described by
a grating equation:
##EQU1##
where .THETA..sub.d is the diffraction angle, .THETA..sub.i is the
incidence angle, .lambda. is wavelength of light, d is the grating period,
and m is an integer.
In FIG. 2, there is shown another prior-art device 18 in which a first
diffraction grating 20 is formed on one surface of a substrate 22, and a
second diffraction grating 24 is formed in the substrate 22. The distance
between gratings 20 and 24 is at least 1000 microns. A diffraction angle
from a double grating, as shown in FIG. 2, can be described by the
equation:
##EQU2##
An optical device 25 for use in the present invention is shown in FIG. 3.
Optical device 25 comprises a substrate 26, a first grating 27 formed in
substrate 26, a thin film 28 formed over grating 27, and a second grating
29 formed in thin film 28. The distance between gratings 27 and 29 is
generally equal to the wavelength of the light to be used with device 25,
and can be between 0.1 microns and 10 microns. A diffraction angle from a
doubly periodic structure, as shown in FIG. 3, can be described by an
equation obtained from theoretical calculations as:
##EQU3##
where m and n may take a positive or negative integer. Here
.THETA..sub.m,n is the angle of m,n.sup.th diffracted order, .THETA..sub.i
is the angle of incidence, .lambda. is the incident wavelength, and
d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 are the periods of the two gratings. The theoretical
results calculated from Equation (3) are listed in Table 1, together with
measured values; it will be seen that the two sets of data agree with each
other quite well. In the calculations for Table 1: .THETA..sub.i =0-
Normal incidence; d.sub.1 =0.36 .mu.m, d.sub.2 =0.45 .mu.m,
.lambda.=0.6328 .mu.m; and Sin .THETA..sub.mn =m 1.7578+n 1.4062.
TABLE 1
______________________________________
Measured and Calculated Diffraction Angles
From a Doubly-Periodic Structure
m n Calc. .THETA..sub.m,n
Meas. .THETA..sub.m,n
______________________________________
0 0 0 Trans
-1 +1 -20.58 -21.8
+1 -1 +20.58 +21.5
+2 -2 +44.7 +45.9
-2 +2 -44.7 -45.9
______________________________________
The appearance of various diffracted orders from device 25 may be explained
as follows. Though invisible, the electromagnetic fields of the
higher-order space harmonics, which are diffracted individually by each
grating, are evanescent. Because of the small separation between the two
gratings, the evanescent fields diffracted from one grating may interact
with the other, resulting in many higher-harmonics radiation modes that
propagate out of the structure; therefore, higher-order beams appear. If
the separation is large, the evanescent fields from one grating will be
too weak to interact with the other grating. More specifically, although
the higher-order beams may still be in existence, their intensities are
too low to be observable. Thus, the interaction of the two gratings of
different periods through the evanescent fields results in the otherwise
unexpected diffracted beams.
Some of the unique diffraction characteristics observed from the
evanescently-coupled doubly-periodic structure of device 25 are: (1)
diffraction orders that are not allowed by individual gratings are allowed
by DPS; (2) diffraction angles of various orders are relatively
insensitive to the wavelength change, particularly if the two grating
periods are nearly identical; and (3) many higher-order diffracted beams
can be produced with significant intensities.
In the fabrication of optical device 25, a grating was prepared on a quartz
substrate by coating the substrate with a photoresist and holographically
exposing it with a He-Cd laser beam. The photoresist can be, for example,
Shipley 1400-17 resist, available from Shipley Corporation. The
photoresist was developed using Shipley 351 developer in a 50% solution at
about 20 degrees C. After development, the photoresist was etched using an
ion beam to transfer the pattern into the quartz substrate. The residual
photoresist was then removed using an acetone solution, leaving the first
grating. A Corning 7059 glass film was then coated on top of the first
grating using a sputtering method. The thickness of the glass film between
the two gratings was accurately controlled to a selected value between 0.1
.mu.m and 10 .mu.m. A second grating of a period different from the period
of the first grating was formed on top of the glass film using the same
process used to form the first grating. The periods of the first and
second gratings can be, for example, 0.36 .mu.m and 0.45 .mu.m,
respectively.
With reference to FIG. 4, there is shown an optical head 30 constructed in
accordance with the present invention. Optical head 30 can be used, for
example, with an optical disc for tracking purposes. Optical head 30
comprises a light source which can be, for example, a diode laser 32. A
beam from diode laser 32 is directed to a collimating lens 34, and the
beam from the lens 34 is directed to a polarizing beam splitter 36. The
beam from beam splitter 36 passes through a quarter-wave plate 37 and is
focused on an optical disc 38 by means of a lens 40. A beam reflected from
optical disc 38 passes through quarter-wave plate 37, beam splitter 36 and
optical device 25, and the diffracted beams from device 25 are focused on
photodetectors 44 and 48 by means of a lens 50. Signals from
photodetectors 44 and 48 can be processed in a well-known manner for error
detection, for tracking, and for signal detection.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to the
preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations
and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the
invention.
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